Steel And Poppies
by Famaniel
Summary: Gender-bending crossover between Wolfblood and X-Men. Soon after the Wolfbloods escaped the castle of the werewolf hunters in "The Mottled Poppy", a strange girl named Logan arrives in Stoneybridge. Soon Maddy and her friends have to call for Logans help, when their lives are in danger. Yes, I'm experimenting with gender-bending here, so my version of Wolverine is a girl.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
The Stranger

Life hadn't been at it's best for Maddy Smith lately. She had just been locked up and threatened, her parents had kicked out her loved one, who then had nothing better to do than lock lips with a wild girl and her best friend had betrayed her.

No, life hadn't been very kind to Maddy Smith lately. Maybe this was why she sat alone in Bertie's cafe sipping cocoa. She didn't really want to sit here, because if the three K's came by, they surely would use the opportunity to mock her for being in the pathetic state as she was. Although not the brightest, they were clearly good at spotting if someone was miserable, and had a talent of rubbing it in. But going home, were she had to confront her parents, was worse.

So when the doorbell rang, and someone entered, she already had a snide remark ready to greet the K's with, but to her surprise, the girl who walked in was a stranger. If you grow up in Stoneybridge, you rarely meet someone you haven't met before. And most of the time, strangers that came through were tourists on their way to the Scottish Borders, who had lost their way. Despite it's beauty, Northumberland was far from being a major tourist attraction, and most of the time Maddy liked it that way.

But this girl didn't look like she was a tourist. She wore the green-grey jacket and trousers of the forest administration, so she was probably a volunteer for the national park. That surprised Maddy, because the park keepers where usually also foresters, and therefore most often men, and rarely this young.

The girl was tall, slender and -although she wore a woolen jacket- Maddy could see that she was extremely athletic. Long dark hair framed the sharp features of her face, and the grave expression she wore, made her look a lot older than she was.

The most confusing thing about her though, was her scent. For Maddy it was always important how people smelled. Her heightened Wolfblood senses allowed her to pick up things, that humans couldn't, even if she was not in wolf form. The girl smelled very different. She was not Wolfblood, but she did not smell entirely human. Although she wore no perfume, there was a bitter-sweet note in the scent, that was so intense, that Maddy felt a little dizzy, after the girl had passed her. Also she noticed some notion of metal in it. She couldn't help but stare at the stranger.

The girl was too involved in a confrontation with Bertie.

"I just asked for a pint!" She just said.

Bertie nodded. "Yes, and I tell you I won't sell alcohol to minors. Who do you think I am?"

The girl sighed, and put a card on the counter. "Here."

"What's that?"

"My drivers license. Look, it says I'm twenty-one."

Bertie stared at the card. "Never seen anything like that."

"It's Canadian! For gods sake! Just give me a coffee!" The girl turned around, and looked directly at Maddy, who was still staring at her.

"What?" She snapped at Maddy.

Maddy blushed. "Um, you don't want Bertie's coffee, trust me. Ask for cocoa!"

She turned back to Bertie. "You heard her."

Bertie grinned, prepared a mug of cocoa and handed it to the girl. "2.25 please."

She flipped a few coins over the counter. "Thanks for nothing."

She grabbed her mug and walked over to Maddy's table. "Is this seat taken?"

Maddy blushed again and pulled her backpack from the neighbouring seat. "Sure. I mean no!"

The girl sat down beside her. Maddy felt the weird sweet-metallic scent engulf her, and became extremely nervous.

The girl nipped on her cocoa and nodded approvingly. "Thanks for the tip. That bloke may be grumpy, but he sure know how to make chocolate. Although I'd prefer a good strong coffee."

Maddy smiled. "You won't find it here. You're in Britain. Are you a volunteer for the park?"

The stranger now smiled for the first time. "Actually, I hope they're going to pay me."

"Aren't you going to school?"

The stranger looked at her in surprise. "I finished high school years ago!" She explained. "Do I look like a school girl to you?"

Maddy just looked back at the girl, the way her mother usually did, when she had stated something obvious. Maddy was unaware of that resemblance to her mother of course.

The girl sighed. "OK, yes I do. That is mostly the problem here, isn't it?" She took another sip of her cocoa.

"Everyone keeps telling me, that I should be happy about looking so young, but truth is, it sucks when everyone treats you like you're just a little kid."

She looked at Maddy. "No offence."

Maddy grinned. More often than not, she had wished to be a few years older herself. Especially in times like these.

"So, what brought you to Stoneybridge all the way from Canada?" She asked.

"I'm not so much a city girl. Been to London and hated it. It's too loud and to crowded. I like the forest more. It's nice and quiet."

"And why Britain?" Maddy asked. "If that's OK to ask?"

"I'm not too good with my folks at home, and I wanted to get away. Europe was the first choice."

For a moment the girl's face darkened, and she fell silent, as if she was haunted by old memories. Then she shook her head and looked back at Maddy. "What about you? You lived here for long?"

"All my life. My family owns an estate here for generations now."

"Mmh, do you like it here?"

Maddy shrugged. "Most of the time. Sometimes I think living in a city might be cooler, but I'll miss the woods, I guess."

The girl smiled. "To that, I can totally relate!"

She finished her chocolate. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Maddy. Maddy Smith."

The girl reached out a hand. "I'm Logan. Logan Howlett."

Maddy laughed, and took the hand. "Nice to meet you Logan. And welcome to Stoneybridge!"


	2. Chapter 2:

Chapter 2  
Hunters

Trent Corr sat on a soft old fashioned armchair. His huge hand grabbed some sweets from a crystal bowl, and stuffed them into his mouth. His feet, wrapped in dusty snake-skin boots, rested on the cherry wood side-table.

The square built American looked entirely out of place in the cosy surroundings of a Victorian estate. On the sofa beside him, looking as much as a cowboy as Trent, was Earl Parker. Earl was wearing the same spacey outfit, but he was taller and his clothes were a lot cleaner. He was well better mannered than his companion, and it wasn't hard to see who of this duo was the brains. But Earl didn't team with Trent for his cleverness.

"Would you like some shortbread with your tea?" Mary Driscoll offered. "I made them myself, just this morning."

"Thank you, my dear!" Her husband Bob smiled at his wife. The garage owner turned his attention to his two guests.

"You see, gentlemen" he explained. "We have tried to take out the lot of them ourselves, but, well, it seems we're getting too old for this."

Earl nodded. "They are not to be messed with, these beasts! Need ta' be wary and quick!" He talked in a broad southern accent. "You say they're tame?"

"Yes, yes indeed!" Bob confirmed. "They are even driving cars, can you believe that! And they seem to have enslaved some humans."

Earl looked up. He had never heard of werewolves keeping humans as pets. The other way around, yes. But this was new.

"What makes ya think that?" He wanted to know.

"There was this girl with them. She was human. She claimed to be a hunter herself, and that she had tricked the beasts into trusting her. But then, she helped them escape!"

"Interesting." Earl mused. "Are you sure, they were what you think?"

"Absolutely!" Bob seemed to be a little offended that his story was doubted. "Wait, I show you something!"

He looked over to his wife. "Mary, my dear, be so kind and get the poppy, will you?"

Mary looked confused for a moment, and then turned to go. "Oh, yes, the poppy!"

She vanished into a kitchen to look for it, while there was an awkward silence, between the three men, which was only interrupted by the crunching sound of Trent's teeth crunching the sweets.

Mary returned with a single dried flower. She handed it to Earl, who looked at it sceptically.

"This is a mottled poppy." Bob explained. "It's a very rare breed. It's usually white, but it gets these red dots whenever the breath of a werewolf touches it's leaves."

Earl nodded. "I heard of these. Thought they were a myth."

Mary smiled. "My family grows them for generations now."

Earl handed the flower to Trent, who sniffed at it, and shrugged, handing the flower back to Earl. "I ain't believin' no shit!" He claimed. "Just tell me where's to find 'em!" He crooked his finger as if he was firing a gun.

"Do you know where they are from?" Earl asked.

"They didn't tell, but their names are Daniel and Emma Smith. Not an uncommon name but a found out, that there is a Daniel Smith living with his family in Stoneybridge."

"And you're sure it's them?"

"It fits perfectly. Stoneybridge is about 48 Miles from here, in the heart of the Northumbrian forest. If I were a foul creature of the night, I would hide there too. Lots of places to hide in."

Earl grinned. "Well, I think it's time to pay a visit to the Smiths then, eh Trent?"

Trent just grunted in approval.

Two hours later, the two Americans drove along the back roads of the Northumbrian forest. Earl was behind the wheel, his driving accompanied by a constant stream of complaints, in which at least every second word was _fuck_. He had a hard time driving on the left, and the fact that the car had a manual gear box didn't help either. "And then they put the fucking wheel on the fucking wrong side of the fucking car!" Earl had complained. More than once, he had entered a roundabout the wrong way, which, when his wasn't the only car, had led barely avoided crashes and even more swearing on Earl's side. To make matters worse, he had insisted on getting what Trent called _a man's car_, in this case a big Japanese pick-up. When they entered the village of Bellingham, Earl had begun to wonder, if that sissy guy at the car rental might have been right: Twice already, they had to make a detour, because their monstrous car was too big to take the corners.

Yet, he felt a bit better, when he saw the white road sign directing them to Stoneybridge.

"Eh' Trent, there it is!" It took him a while to manoeuvre across the narrow bridge that led into the village.

Trent spit through the open window. "Wha's this? Open Pants, Minnesota?"

When Earl stopped the truck on the village square, they drew everyone's attention. Had the mysterious girl that had lately shown up sparked some peoples imagination, these two cowboys would be talk-of-the-town within minutes.

Earl approached an elderly woman, who stared at him, as if he was an alien, who had just climbed out of a spaceship.

"Howdy, lady. Is there a motel or something 'round 'ere?"

The woman remembered her manners. "Oh, there's a bed and breakfast at Bertie's pub over there."

Earl tipped his head. "Thanks, ma'am." And he waved Trent to follow him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
Trails

Jana was on her way home from school. She still had very mixed feelings about what had happened. On one hand, she was really enjoying Rhydian's attention, on the other, she had become to like Maddy enough, that she didn't want to hurt her feelings. Plus, although she found it difficult to admit, despite being tame, Maddy was much more of an alpha then herself. She was fascinated by the way Maddy had managed to put everyone in line without using force, or even express authority. Just by plain reasoning. It was one of the mysteries of the human world, and, even though she wasn't aware of it yet, inside her grew the idea, that this was one of the reasons why humans had been so much more successful then her own kind.

Clearly, in combining the intellect of the human with the strength and agility of the beast made them far superior to normal humans, at least on a physical level. On the other hand, their whole culture revolved around the wolf, which went as far as spending your entire adult life in wolf-form, as some of her kind preferred to.

And then there was Shannon. Jana had no idea what to make of her. Not that she didn't like the human girl, she was just nothing short of a complete mystery to Jana.

On one hand, she was definitely a friend. From what Maddy had told Rhydian, she had been loyal to her pack to the extend of nearly catching a bullet. On the other, she had spied on Maddy and her family, and had collected all sorts of information, that might expose not only Maddy and her family, but all wolfbloods.

Friendship aside, Jana was sure she had to do something to stop her. Even if that meant acting against Maddy. Or Rhydian.

Her train of thought was interrupted as she was close to her trailer. Someone was there!

"Shannon!", she thought. But as soon as she climbed uphill towards her improvised home, the scent-trail she picked up proved her wrong. There was a stranger in her trailer!

Breathlessly she drew closer, sneaking in, to catch a glimpse of the intruder. The scent was unusual, but she was sure the intruder wasn't a wolfblood. So no one sent by her father to get her back.

"Nice place. Yours?" She jumped as the stranger suddenly appeared behind her. How the hell did she do that, Jana asked herself. With her heightened senses, it should be near impossible for a human to sneak up behind her.

She turned around, taking a defensive position. Her heart was racing. The stranger was a girl, hardly older than herself, maybe 16 or 17. She looked strong for a human.

She growled at the stranger. The girl didn't seem to be impressed. When the girl took a step towards her, Jana's instincts kicked in. She turned tail and ran into the forest.

She could hear her pursuer behind her. The girl was fast, Jana had to give her that. But Jana knew these woods, she tried to outmanoeuvre her. She ran towards the river, never in a straight line, to confuse her pursuer, and hoping the latter would take a wrong turn.

Near the river bank, she realised that no one was behind her anymore. She stopped and sniffed around. Then she saw the girl, standing in the middle of the shallow river. Jana backed off.

"Don't run!" The girl called. "I'm not here to hurt you! I just wanna talk to you!"

Jana hesitated. The girl didn't appear aggressive, and it might get Jana into even more trouble, when she started talking about chasing a girl through the woods.

"Don't come closer!" She called to the stranger.

"OK. Mind if I step out of the water?" The girl waded to land, and calmly removed her wet shoes and socks, wrenching the water from the latter. She didn't seem to care about the autumn cold.

"Why did you run from me?" She asked. "I don't bite. Usually."

Jana tried to keep calm. She knew if the grown-ups found out, that her address was faked and she lived in a forsaken trailer in the forest on her own, they would come for her. She had no idea where they would take her, if they came, but she was sure it wasn't good.

Her mind was racing. This was a human problem. She needed to think like a human. What would Maddy do? The answer was clear: Maddy would lie. This was one more thing Jana had learned from her tame friends. In the human world it was sometimes necessary to lie. She just needed a good one.

"It's my place. But…but I don't really live there! My…my parents fight a lot, and I like to be not around when that happens."

Thinking of Alric, that wasn't even a lie. Alric fought constantly with anyone.

That seems to satisfy the girl. She nodded. "Just be careful out here. The forest is not a playground."

"I know. But I know my way here." Jana responded.

"So I noticed." The girl winked.

"You're not gonna tell anyone, do you?"

The girl shook her head. "None of my business."

Jana felt a weight lifted from her shoulders. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Only a few days after their first encounter, Logan ran into Jana again. The girl was on the school yard with a ginger haired girl, whom Logan had seen in the village before, but hadn't talked to. The two teenage girls seemed to be having a fight. Now Logan was usually more or less uninterested in other people's affairs, or at least she pretended to be, but her instincts told her, that something was in the air. If the kids would start a cat-fight, she thought she might need to intervene, so she slowed her pace, and watched the girls from afar.

"I don't have your bloody laptop!" Jana just screamed.

"Oh, yes?" The ginger girl shot back. "You had the chance, and the motive!"

"I would have taken it, if I'd had a chance" Jana cried. "This wouldn't have happened, if you didn't spy on us!"

"I didn't!" The redhead snapped back. "It's for research!"

"I don't want to be researched." Jana snarled.

"Give it back!"

Jana now growled the way she had done when Logan had first met her, just more aggressively. What happened next was astounding even to Logan, who had seen lots of weird stuff before. Jana's skin grew black veins, her hands clenched to fists, and then her whole features began to blur. The her face was strangely distorted, her body seemed to stretch, and she fell down on all fours. A second later, she was gone. In her place, a young wolf stood on school grounds, ready to attack.

Logan had heard of shape-shifters before, and she had had more than one with Mystique, who was the proverbial mother of all shape-shifters, but this was still astonishing. And dangerous. Logan sprinted towards the school yard, jumped over the low wall, and threw herself onto the wolf, the moment it jumped at the other girl. They struggled for a moment, until Logan's eyes met the wolf's. She could see the yellow eyes fixing her gaze, and the realisation in them, that she had met the girl before. Logan let go of the wolf. The wolf-girl circled her aggressively. Long metal claws sprang from between Logan's knuckles as she went into defensive position.

"Stop!" The other girl cried. "Don't hurt her!"

And then, to Logan: "She's my friend."

Jana looked from one to another, then turned, and ran, as fast as she could towards the woods.

Logan's claws retracted. "This turns out to be an interesting day." She mumbled to herself.

Only know she realised the other girl, who still stood there, with her mouth open, and stared in fear and disbelieve.

"You're OK?" Logan asked her.

It took a while till the girl noticed that Logan had asked her a question.

"Um, yes. What are those?"

She pointed towards Logan's hands.

"Hands." Logan answered.

"And those claws coming out of them?"

"They are metal claws." Logan confirmed. Which left the girl in even more confusion.

Now it was Logans turn. "You're friend's a shape-shifter?"

"A what?" The girl was now.

"Shape-shifter. Turns into anyone, or anything she wants?"

Logan could smell the girls nervousness.

"I don't know what you mean. There was this, um, dog, and um, you chased it away!" The girl stammered.

Logan looked at her. "So I didn't just see your friend Jana turn into a wolf, fight with me, and then run off into the woods?"

The girl shook her head.

"Well, I think I'm gonna go and look for her. She lives in a trailer in the forest, doesn't she?"

The ginger girl turned even paler. "Please don't tell anyone! We need to protect her! Please!"

Logan nodded. "I'm gonna find out, what's going on here, and then we'll see."

She turned around and continued her way home, leaving a very confused girl behind.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
Revelations

They met in the dark room of the school. Tom sat on the desk and played with a camera. Maddy and Rhydian stood by the door and there was an awkward silence between them . Maddy hadn't been talking to Rhydian much ever since they were back from their fateful trip. Tom did not really know how to handle this situation.

The door opened and Shannon stormed in. "Guys, we have a problem!"

Maddy's reaction was cool. "You were saying?"

Shannon snorted. "This is different. I collected the data to help you."

"And that makes me feel better." In Maddy's voice was more than a streak of irony.

Shannon shook her head. "I confronted Jana earlier. Because of the laptop."

"You still believe she's got it?" Rhydian asked. "If she says it wasn't her, it wasn't her, OK?"

"Well, she got really emotional, and well, she wolfed-out."

Now both Rhydian and Maddy were alarmed. "In public?"

Shannon nodded. "On the school yard. But we were alone there. Almost."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"There was this girl. Never saw her before, but I think she's working for national park. At least she wore their logos."

Maddy nodded. "I think I met her. Her name is Logan."

Tom frowned. "That's kind of a boys name." He stated.

"I met her at Bertie's she seemed to be OK."

Shannon sighed. "Let's hope she can keep a secret. She went in when Jana was about to jump at me. I'm pretty sure, she saw her wolf-out too."

Maddy got up pacing up and down. "We need to find her. See what she knows. Now!"

Shannon tried to calm her down. "She's got no prove. She can't go to the authorities."

"Or," Maddy shot at her, "she might find the one who's got your laptop!"

Tom put away the camera. "May be we should call your parents." He suggested.

Maddy stopped in her tracks. "No!" She said decidedly. "Right now, we keep them out of this."

"Rhydian, you go and find Jana. Shannon and Tom, you get back the laptop. I will try to find Logan and question her."

Maddy had been checking the office of the Park Authority, and looked for Logan at Bertie's. The first was already closed and the latter deserted, except for it's grumpy owner, who only told her, he could not help her, and she should buy something or get lost. Stoneybridge wasn't really big, but Maddy could hardly go from door to door, and ask for the girl, could she?

But luckily, she met old Mrs. Jeffries, Mr. Jeffries mother. If anyone knew anything about what was going on in Stoneybridge it was her. So Maddy offered to carry home her shopping bag, and used the opportunity to ask, if Mrs. Jeffries knew anything about the new girl. She wasn't disappointed. Mrs. Jeffries knew that she was from abroad, and that there was gossip, she was on the run. She also knew where the girl lived. The rest of the way she told Maddy about the two very weired cowboys who had checked into the local inn.

It was nearly dark when she finally stood outside the place the girl had checked in. It was an old house, that belonged to an old couple, who had lived here for ages. Both were in need of care, and had therefore moved to a care home in Hexham, were there where closer to their children. Their son had tried to sell the property for a while now, and always had taken in some tenants.

She knocked at the door. It took a while until the door opened. She wore a plain white tee and a pair of jeans. Her hair was in the same untidy fashion as it had been on their first encounter.

"Hi Logan!" Maddy greeted.

The other girl stared, and for a moment Maddy thought she would just close the door again. "Maddy, right?" Loagn asked.

"Yes. Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure." Logan stepped aside and made an inviting gesture.

Maddy stepped into the house. Logan led the way to the kitchen, and Maddy looked around. She had never seen a place so spartan. On the way through the hall, she could peer into the bedroom. The closet doors were open, and beside her working close, nothing was in it. On the bed was only a woollen for a blanket.

In the kitchen, Logan went for the fridge. "Beer?" She asked.

Maddy shuddered at the thought of drinking beer. "I'm not old enough to drink."

"Right." Logan opened a bottle of beer for her self, and took a sip. "I only have tap water otherwise, sorry." She added.

Maddy shook her head. "I'm OK."

"So, what brings you here?"

"I'm here on behalf of my friend Shannon. You met her earlier today. She was, ahem, attacked by a dog on the school yard."

"Ah." Logan nodded. "No big. Why send you then?"

Maddy looked blank. "What?"

"If she was to say _Thank You!_, she could have come around herself?"

"Oh, she, ah, needs to attend some urgent business, and I was around."

"So this doesn't have anything to do with the fact, that her friend turned into a wolf?"

Maddy's heart sank. "What are you talking about?"

"The redhead. Well, the other redhead, not your friend." Logan explained. "The two were arguing, and suddenly, she turned into a wolf."

"What?" Maddy tried to look surprised. "Where did you get that story from?"

Logan looked at her for a long while. Then took another sip from her beer. "You are a lousy liar, did you know that?"

Maddy blushed. "You know this girl, and you know what she can do."

Maddy tried to make up a story in her mind, but Logan's piercing look rendered her efforts useless. Any lie would just make things worse.

"Yes." She admitted. "I know her. She is my friend."

"And a werewolf." Logan added.

"It's called a Wolfblood. I know this is hard to believe, but you saw it! Don't freak out, I promise you, she is not dangerous!"

"So you came here, to ask me to keep your little secret?" Logan asked.

Maddy nodded and stared at the ground.

"Relax. It's none of my business. And believe me, I have seen freakier things than that!"

Maddy looked up.

"Didn't your friend tell you? I'm a freak myself." She lifted one of her hands, and in terror Maddy saw long metal claws grow from them. Maddy swallowed hard.

"I'm not scared of your wolf-friend. It's maybe better, you'd be afraid of me."

"Is that a threat?" Maddy asked cautiously.

Logan suddenly looked very troubled. "No." She finally said. "But shit tends to happen around me all the time. You'd better not be around, when it it's the fan."

With the metallic sound, the blades retracted into her hands again, and she got up.

Maddy suddenly felt the great burden on the girl's shoulders. Something terrible had happened to her. Maybe, that was why she came to Stoneybridge, to run from it.

It was clear, that Logan wanted her to leave, so she got up too, and went for the door.

"Maddy." Logan said, when the had reached the door. "Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."

Maddy smiled. "Thanks."


End file.
